Books

I mention some specific books below but these sites can fulfill much more besides in terms of your book (and other shopping) needs.

New Hart’s Rules: The Oxford Style Guide

In my view this is an essential reference book for anyone preparing written content, whether a blog, pitch or a full length book. Will answer all your questions about grammar, punctuation and so much more besides.

‘For over a hundred years, Hart’s Rules has been the authority on style, helping writers and editors prepare copy for publication. The latest edition of this guide has been updated for the twenty-first century using the resources of Oxford Dictionaries and with the advice of publishing experts. Twenty-one chapters give information on all aspects of writing and of preparing copy for publication, whether in print or electronically. New Hart’s Rules gives guidance on a broad range of topics including publishing terms, layout and headings, how to treat illustrations, hyphenation, punctuation, and bibliographies and notes.’

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Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2019

This bestselling guide to all areas of publishing and the media is completely revised and updated every year. The Yearbook is packed with advice, inspiration and practical guidance on who to contact and how to get published.

Plus over 4,000 listings entries on who to contact and how across the media and publishing worlds.

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Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook Guide to Getting Published

‘Written emphatically from the author’s point of view, this is an expert guide to the process of getting published, from submitting your work and finding an agent, to working with a publishing house and understanding the book trade. Together with interviews from authors, agents and publishers (including the CEO of Harper Studio, and the Editorial Director of Macmillan New Writing) as well as buyers from Waterstones and Asda, it offers advice on: * finding an agent or publisher * successful approaches for covering letters and synopses * understanding contractual terms * working with publishers and the editorial process * your role in helping to publicise your work The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook Guide to Getting Published will enable you to market your work more professionally, understand the relationship you will have with both agent and publisher and offers a contemporary inside view of the publishing industry. Along with the essential contacts in the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook, this is a professional tool you will not want to be without.’

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Professional services

Reedsy – publishing freelancer marketplace

Reedsy is a curated marketplace for connecting with the best publishing freelancers in editorial, design, marketing, publicity, production and ghostwriting. Reedsy is also a portal for communication, secure payments and more when collaborating on self-publishing projects.

If you need to draw on specialist skills to make your book project the best it can be then this is a great place to go.

Reedsy also publishes a high quality blog, email newsletter and short email courses providing all sorts of great insights into the publishing process.

<<< Click the icon to explore the author-facing version of the Reedsy Website.

Sign up and receive a credit towards engaging pro services via the marketplace

<<< If you are a freelance publishing pro and would like to offer your services via Reedsy click on the ‘Available to hire’ image to explore the website and receive a cash reward on joining.

Hardware

Monitors

A colour accurate monitor is a great asset when preparing images for print. Most PC and Mac monitors aren’t able to render images accurately enough so you can properly compare the digital version of images with proofs and printed results. For this reason Pre-press and print companies will use specialist monitors. The brand I have most commonly seen in use in the print world is Eizo.

I have a budget-range Eizo monitor which sits alongside my iMac monitor. I calibrate both of them but they produce very different reproductions of the same files. They can’t both be correct.

I know from working on live projects that the Eizo gives an excellent rendering of images in CMYK. This removes the uncertainty you can otherwise feel when sending images off to be proofed or printed. I get predictable results every time.

There are models to suit different budgets.

Below is a link to a UK stockist of Eizo and other brands, with Eizo products from lowest price to highest.

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Colour calibration

To get the best from your monitor, that being the most accurate rendering of your images, whether that is in RGB or CMYK, you will need to calibrate it regularly, for which you will need a calibration device.

I own a Datacolour Spyder device. As with monitors there are different levels to suit different-sized pockets.

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Tools

Trello – Project management tool

Click the image to explore the Trello website

Trello is the project management tool I use to organise my work and non-work life. I find it a powerful yet simple way to run all manner of tasks and projects.

It has a visual structure I love, which supports my own work but also assists collaboration with others.

I use it to keep lists, organise project schedules, gather reference material and relevant emails, send messages to collaborators and much more beside.

For repeat tasks you can create templates which can be copied for each iteration. The Trello email newsletters are brilliant, providing all manner of suggestions on how to get ever more from the app. Unlike its competitors the free version is really comprehensive. Ideal for the sole trader.

Podcasts

Inspiration for creatives and publishers.

[Click on the entries below to open the web pages for these podcast in a new tab. Most can also be found in the usual Podcast apps]